Navigation Using an Environmental Magnetic Field for Outdoor Autonomous Mobile Robots

Abstract

GPS and laser range finders are generally utilized in current robot navigation. However, information from the magnetic field and electronic compass is not, since it is dynamically changing at every position. In this paper, the relationship between the intensity of a magnetic field in the environment and its position is taken into account by utilizing a three-axis magnetic sensor to scan the magnetic field in the environment to build a database. The mobile robot navigates by performing trajectory tracking based on the database. The experimental results show that by applying the proposed method, the mobile robot is able to navigate in an outdoor environment with reliable accuracy.